AN OSWESTRY farming couple were left shocked when their ewe gave birth to a larger-than-expected lamb this week.

‘Hulk’ the lamb was delivered on Wednesday morning, and weighed in at more than 23lbs – far exceeding the expected weight of a new-born lamb of between 8-10lbs.

Katie Lee-Jones and Chris Jones, who own a smallholding near Old Oswestry Racecourse, were stunned to find out the weight of their baby lamb, who said it is the first time in 15 years of lambing they have seen a new-born of such size.

“It was a shock,” Katie said. “He was born in the middle of the night at around 4am.

“My husband said the ewe wasn’t going to lamb herself, so he tried to pull the lamb.

“He felt the size of the lamb’s foot and said there is no way it’s coming out.

“We took her to the vet for a caesarean, and even the vet said he had never seen anything so big – he said he had seen smaller calves!

“The vet asked if he could weigh him, and he was over 23lbs.”

Chris is a builder, who spends his spare time looking after around 50 sheep with Katie and his daughters – Abigail and Isabella.

The couple do not usually name their lambs; however, they felt the name ‘Hulk’ suited the new-born, who was born at around the same time as 'Tiny Tim' – who weighed in at 4lbs.

Katie said: “It’s the first time we have seen one of this size in around 11 years here in Oswestry.

“The vet didn’t say there was any reason why he is so big, it’s just one of those things really.

“He’s having to be bottle-fed because the mother doesn’t have enough milk to feed him!

“We don’t usually name our lambs because they get to a certain size and we sell them, but we wanted to give him a name because he’s quite special.”